Only When I Bleed

I wasn't born into a throne
I carved my name into bone
No map, no crown, no master plan
Just a blade and a beating hand
They say there's peace beyond the shore
I don't know what that word is for
When silence comes, I feel it bite
I only breathe when there's a fight

I don't fear death, I fear the calm
The days with nothing in my palms
If I stop moving, I'm erased
A ghost with no remaining face

I only live when I bleed
Only exist when I'm torn
If there's no war inside my chest
Then I was never born
I don't need gold, I don't need fame
Just something left to burn
If peace is all you have to give
Then watch me never learn

They tell me legends get old
Die warm, die safe, die controlled
But safety feels like a slow decay
A quieter, colder way
My sons ask what I've become
I say the storm before the calm
But every time the fires end
I don't know how to be a man

They call me savage, call me wrong
But still they sing my name in songs
If this is all I'll ever be
Then let the world remember me

I only live when I bleed
Only exist when I'm torn
If there's no war inside my chest
Then I was never born
I don't need gold, I don't need fame
Just something left to burn
If peace is all you have to give
Then watch me never learn

What am I
Without the fight?
Who am I
When it's quiet?

If the gods want me to rest–
They'll have to kill me first

I only live when I bleed
When every scar feels earned
If I lay down my weapons now
There's nothing left to learn
I don't chase heaven, I don't pray
I don't wait my turn
If living means becoming still–
Then let me crash and burn

No war
No name